Mother of heaven and hell
by Sagor
Summary: A continuation of my previous fan fiction "Charlie and his uncle" set about 12 years post season 4. Something strange is happening to Charlie, Lucifer's nephew, and it is not the usual teenage hormones... Includes demons, fighting and some Deckstar romance.
1. Chapter 1

Dr Linda Martin remembered a time when her life had been normal. A time when her patients consisted of suicidal CEOs and former child stars turned addicts, not the devil himself and his entourage of celestial beings. She remembered a time when her biggest concern in life was whether or not she would be able to pay the mortgage at the end of month, instead of worrying about the possibility of a demon invasion where her only child might be declared the new lord of hell. Oh yes, and she definitely remembered those long lost days, way, way back, when she could come home after a tiresome workday NOT finding a wounded angel in her kitchen, like she did this particular tuesday.

"What on earth happened?" she exclaimed as she shoved the door open, stepping into a giant cloud of lose, white feathers. She had to wave her arms in front of her just to be able to see into the room.

"Don't worry, Linda, it just a scratch. I will heal in a moment," the father of her son, the angel Amenadiel, said calmly. He was sitting on the top of the counter with one of his wings hanging limp from his back, shredded to pieces.

"I did not mean _you_," Linda groaned. "I meant what the hell happened to my kitchen?"

Just behind Amenadiel, his brother Lucifer, prince of darkness, smiled broadly, white teeth shining - a predator ready for his next prey.

"Well hello Linda. You're just in time for the celebration. We caught not only one, but _two _demons today and sent them packing back to hell."

Linda took a deep breath, reminding herself who she actually was talking with, after which she repeated in a dangerously low voice:

"What. Happened. To. My. Kitchen?"

The two men caught on pretty quickly then, both rabbiting on about how they of course would clean up after themselves. Absolutely. Definitely. Just one more drink first, or maybe two. Only to celebrate, of course, then they for sure would...

Linda slammed the door behind her as she left them standing there, stupefied. God only knew she had had enough of this. Demons, angels, the devil himself. It did not matter which one, they were all the same in the end. Self-absorbed. Impulsive. Risk-taking. Mad.

She paused for a second in the living room remembering something her friend Maze had pointed out to her recently. Maybe, just maybe she was jealous of Amenadiel and his brother's misadventures since she herself could not join them on their demon hunts as often that she would have liked. One of them actually had to have a work with an income. Could this really be the case?

"No," Linda muttered to herself. "No, no. I'm the therapist here. I make the interpretations."

And besides, Maze was a demon herself, so what did she know?

Yes, being a human in their celestial dominated circle of friends was not always a easy feat. Yet, hadn't life taken her on this particular road, Linda often thought, she would have missed so much. Not say the least, it had provided her with the best gift of her life, the diamond of her eye, the very core of her heart; her son Charlie. Linda smiled to herself as she walked up the stairs towards his room, longing to drag her fingers through his thick hair before she went to bed, just holding him close as she had done when he was a little baby, sniffing his head, breathing in his scent.

She opened the door...

...and stopped drop dead at the threshold, starring.

Her son was on his bed looking at her, horrified, his face turned into an ugly, red, leather mask.

"Mum, what's happening to me?" Charlie cried, tears flowing down his cheeks.


	2. Chapter 2

"Interesting," Lucifer said while slowly circling around her son, a glass of Scotch nestled in his hand.

"Is that all you can say?" Linda blurted. After the initial shock had evaporated she had dragged Charlie down the stairs to the only man she could phantom had any idea to what the hell was going on. Her son, obviously shock strikened, had not said a word since they left his room.

"Well, doctor, I have never seen anything like it before. Except on me of course."

Lucifer took a long sip of his drink, a small frown creasing his otherwise perfectly shaped forehead. Linda had known the man long enough by now to know that_ that _was a bad sign. It was always a bad sign when the devil himself was worried.

"So... is it the same? This thing on Charlie?" Amenadiel, now once again with a complete set of wings on his back paused and swallowed hard. "Is it a real devil's face? Tell us the truth, Luci."

The four of them were standing in middle of the living room. Only a scattered trail of white feathers leading from them back to the kitchen door still hinted about the chaos in the next room. Absent-mindedly, Linda wondered if the vacuum cleaner would be able to handle all the feathers or if she would have to buy a new one. The thought of cleaning up the mess felt like something ordinary, something safe. Something she readily would have escaped to, given the opportunity, since it did not bring up the thunderstorm of emotions she now experienced every time she looked at her poor son's face.

Lucifer put down his glass and fixated Charlie with his dark gaze.

"Charlie, my dear nephew," he said in a grav voice. "I want you listen to me very carefully now. Do you understand?"

Linda's son starred up at Lucifer, like a drowning kitten desperately longing to be rescued. He nodded slowly. He understood.

"Good boy. Now..." Lucifer did a short pause before continuing," have you done anything nasty lately? Answer me truthfully. Is there anything you feel ashamed of? Maybe something you've done, something you feel that maybe you deserve to be punished for?"

"Luci, I don't understand what good can come out of these kind of questions..." Amenadiel interjected.

"Trust me, brother, this is how the detective helped me once when I couldn't slip out of the old devil uniform. She helped me realise that it was only my own self-loathing over what I'd done that kept me prisoner. That was right after I'd broken up with Eve. Remember?"

Both Linda and Amenadiel groaned. How could they ever forget seeing Lucifer's true colors; not only his devil face but his full devilish body with tail and all. Still, seeing him using his old mind trick on her son made Linda feel queasy. Yet she did not protest, trusting her old friend to know what should be done.

"So Charlie", Lucifer continued softly. "Is there anything you like to tell me? Maybe you got angry and did something without thinking... Or maybe you did something to yourself?"

A new light of understanding blossomed in those devilish eyes.

Charlie, however, just starred, completely transfixed.

"Yes, that's it, isn't it?" said Lucifer, suddenly eager. "Come on, Charlie, I know how you teenagers are with your hormones flying everywhere. There is really nothing to be worried about, everyone does it. Even if some of my father's henchmen like to preach otherwise, there is really nothing wrong with enjoying one's own company, so to speak..."

"Sorry, but did you just asked my son if he masturbates?" said Linda incredulously.

And the magic broke like shattered glass.

"Mum!" Charlie gasped horrified, obviously no longer under his uncle's spell. The look of complete mortification in her son's eyes told her that this moment, right now, was far, far worse than having his face turning to a red, leather mask.

"Yes Linda, don't be so judgemental," Lucifer agreed. "Your boy is just turning into a man, nothing strange about that."

"Sorry, but I don't think our son's habits of... playing... with himself has anything to do with his face," Amenadiel said frustrated.

"But I have not even... Oh, please, please, just stop," Charlie pleaded in a low voice.

"Yes, stop. Can't you see you making it harder for the boy?"

"Me making it harder? It was you who started it with..."

"Hold on a minute, I just wanted to..."

"But now..."

They were all still bickering about it when the front door suddenly bursted open in a cloud of dust and feathers, whereupon three demons entered the house .

"Give us the Prince of hell!" the leader of the doomed creatures roared.


	3. Chapter 3

"Employees this days," Lucifer said with a tired shrug and stepped up to the three demons. "You can't even follow a simple order, can you? I said, and I repeat, stay in hell until my return. Instead you insist on contacting me when I'm on my vacation. Doctor, please correct me if I am wrong but this kind of behaviour can cause me to get burned out, yes? I can already smell the sulphur."

"I think you might have misinterpreted the term burn out..." Linda started, but her words got caught in her throat.

The creatures only starred at Lucifer as if he was a curious little insect. Since demons only could come to earth by possessing a recently dead human their bodies all wore signs of trauma; a broken neck here, a knife in the back there, a bullet hole right in the forehead... Linda shivered. If she by chance would have encountered any of them in a dark alley at night she would have never recovered.

The leader of the demons, the guy with the bullet hole, spoke once more:

"We have not come for you, oldie," he said with disdain to Lucifer. "We have come to bring back our new boss." He lifted a gnarled finger and pointed it towards Charlie. "He is our king now. Our only king. We have been waiting for over a decade for his coronation, and now the time has finally come."

The room grow deadly quiet as the full meaning of his words hit them. Despite his red devil's face Charlie looked pale enough to faint on the spot.

"Well," said Lucifer unbuttoning his Armani suit. "Seems like my employee problems are slightly larger than I first believed. Amenadiel. I think we might have rebellion on our hands. Linda. Charlie. Please make an exit as soon as possible. This can be... messy."

He put down his jacket and started rolling up his shirtsleeves. Amenadiel joined him, already in fighting position. The men looked ready to commit murder.

However, no one is more dangerous than a mother trying to protect her offspring.

"Are you threatening my son?" Linda roared, a lioness with claws already out - or in this case hands clutching a glass vase like it was the fabled Excalibur. "Over my dead body." And with that sentence still hanging in the air, she flung herself at the nearest demon.

One second later, all hell broke loose in their living room.

The first victim of the fight was the TV. Surprised by the sudden attack by a mere human the demon Linda was aiming for, the one with a broken neck, took a step backwards and tripped over the flatscreen.

"I told Amenadiel that we should have hung it on the wall instead of placing it in the middle of the room," Linda muttered before carefully stepping around the smashed shards on the floor.

On both sides of her she could see Lucifer and Amenadiel engaging with the other two demons and Charlie... Her blood froze. Her son had not taken the opportunity to escape like she had hopped. Instead he was standing on top of the sofa with one of Mazikeen's knives in each hand. How the bloody hell had he gotten those back? She had been so sure she had found and thrown them all out a couple of months back. Well, she supposed they came in handy right now…

"Mum, behind you!" Charlie yelled and Linda turned just in time to dodge a blow from the demon with the broken neck, who by now had recovered from the fall and was plotting his revenge.

The fight was on. Chairs and tables were flipped upside down, picture frames and chandeliers crashed to the floor and broke into thousand pieces and her beloved cushions from Pottery Barn got shredded, their fluffy content filling the air like big snowflakes. Linda's whole home was coming down around her but she did not care, all she could think about was to protect her son.

Charlie, though, seemed pretty able to defend himself. Each time any of the demons broke through the grown-ups' defenses her son's knives slashed through the air like arrows. The creatures from hell never got so much as a chance to grab him.

Half an hour later it was all over. The human bodies that the demons had possessed lay lifeless on the floor while the demons themselves... well, they were on a express route to hell, scheduled to arrive very soon.

"Thank God, that's over," Amenadiel panted holding a hand to his side, his white wings in tatters once more but already regrowing. "I never meet any demons so well trained before. So... coordinated."

At the unintended mentioning of their father Lucifer shot his brother a dark look, but said nothing. Instead the lord of hell, well the former lord of hell, carefully inspected the bodies of their attackers.

Linda, her body covered in thousands of small scratches and bruises, dragged herself over to what remained of the sofa.

"Charlie, could you please help your mother up?" she whispered and her son, who by the looks of it had gone through the whole ordeal without as much as a dent in his skin, bent down and lifted her up by the arms.

Back on her feet Linda finally allowed herself to take in the whole mess. The living room looked like the final battle of world war three had taken place inside its walls and in a way, maybe it had. She sighed heavily:

"Well, we really need to buy a new vacuum cleaner now, don't we?"

"Oh, I fear you might need to buy a new house entirely," Lucifer said gravely. "Preferably in another city. Hell, maybe in another country."

"But why?" Charlie asked stunned. "We defeated the demons, didn't we?"

"Oh my dear nephew," said Lucifer. "I am afraid these fellows were just the scouts. If my treacherous demons really are planning to crown you their king, and I am pretty sure they are, many more of them will come to hunt you down. Many, many more and now they know where you live. Your not safe here or anywhere nearby."


	4. Chapter 4

"It's just for a little while," his mother said looking straight into his eyes. She almost did it without flinching now. Maybe she was starting to get used to his new face after all. "Just until we have figured all this out."

Despite her soothing words Charlie could feel her worry reflecting back at him. His father, who stood at his mother's side lightly supporting her, had tears in his eyes, though he tried to hide them. Neither of his parents liked this plan, not one bit, but it was the only one they had.

"Come on, let's leave before the next horde of rebel demons find us," Lucifer called and stepped through the trashed front door and out on the street. Charlie and his parents followed.

Less than twenty minutes had gone since the fighting had ended, and less than ten minutes had passed since his uncle had told them about his plan.

"I will take Charlie somewhere I more easily can protect him," he had said.

Charlie's mum had immediately begun protesting, of course.

"He is my son. I will not leave him."

"You need to go to a hospital, Linda," Lucifer had pleaded, carefully squeezing her shoulders. "You're hurt and bleeding... and I am sorry to say this but there is something strange going on with your hair." He gently rearranged one of her stray blond curls. "Did you have a haircut recently?"

"Stop joking, Luci. This is not funny," Amenadiel groaned.

"No, it certainly isn't, brother. You, Linda and Charlie are all in terrible danger. However, you and me can protect ourselves in a way Linda and the boy can't. So therefore I will take care of Charlie while you escort Linda to the nearest hospital." When his father still looked doubtful Lucifer sighed heavily. "For heaven sake, brother, you must trust me when I say that I rather die myself than letting anything happen to the lad?"

Before Amenadiel had had any chance to answer, Charlie's mother intervened.

"Of course we trust you, Lucifer. We can't think of none better to look after him."

She had shot Amenadiel a sideward glance, daring him to object. He had not, though, and so it had been decided, Charlie would go with his uncle. Alone.

Out on the street the time had now come to say goodbye and Charlie and his uncle was just about to take off into the air when Amenadiel asked curiously:

"Just tell us one thing first. Where are you taking him, Luci?"

"To Lux, of course," Lucifer answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Charlie's farther frowned.

"I thought that place closed down long ago."

"Oh, it has," his brother agreed. "The whole building is abandoned actually. I've only reclaimed my old apartment, the penthouse. Call it a holiday apartment, if you like, one I can use during my infrequent visits here on Earth."

"Are you sure it is a good idea to take Charlie there, though? I mean, do you remember how many times people have tried to kill you in that very place?"

"Of course I remember!" Lucifer said sounding highly offended. "It was me they were trying to kill after all, it is nothing i'm likely to forget, is it? But don't worry, since my return I have upgraded to a new and better security system. One of the celestial kind, if you must know, so if any demon come inside a radius of one mile of the place I will know it in advance. It is the safest place for Charlie for the moment, I would say. Now can you please take Linda to the hospital, she looks like she is going to faint at any moment."

Charlie realized to his horror that his uncle was right. His mother had become very quiet the last couple of minutes and his father had to put an arm around her just so she wouldn't fall face first down on the pavement. She had obviously been more seriously hurt than anyone of them first suspected.

His father did not need any more prompting. Without uttering another single word he spread out his wings and a moment later he and Linda were gone.

"Well, I guess that's our turn then," said Lucifer and shot a glance at Charlie. "Ready?"

Charlie nodded and off they went.

Flying with the devil was nothing like the trips he used to do with his father, Charlie thought as he and his uncle soared the sky high above the city. His father always flew close to him, reminding him to fly in the shadow of the clouds or high enough so the humans on the ground would not be able to caught a glimpse of him as he passed. His father never let Charlie stray very far on his own. Lucifer on the other hand shot through the night like an arrow, never once looking back to see if Charlie followed him or not, more than once passing dangerously close to people's bedroom windows or barely avoiding smashing into the treetops.

It was all Charlie could do to keep up and not losing sight of the man.

Finally he caught glimpse of a tall building up ahead. The building was located at a busy street in the city centre, but in sharp contrast to its neighbours no light shone through its many windows except from a couple at the very top. Lux, Charlie thought with relief and the aching muscles in his wings found new strength.

Two minutes later they softly landed on the balcony on the building's top floor. The same floor as the lights. At the glass doors leading into the penthouse apartment, however, Lucifer paused and turned to Charlie.

"Maybe you could wait out here a moment, Charlie. You see I was supposed to meet someone here tonight and well, it might better that I go in first and explain the situation to her..." He trailed off, eyes flickering back and forth.

Charlie could not believe his eyes. Was the Lord of hell nervous? For who?

Then a new voice entered the conversation.

"Explain to me what?"

Both Charlie and Lucifer jumped as Chloe Decker stepped out through the glass doors and onto the balcony.


	5. Chapter 5

Charlie barely recognized Trixie's mother. Gone were Chloe's usual ponytail and plain clothing. Instead she wore her hair loose, falling in soft waves down her bare shoulders. Her dark green, silk dress hugged closely round her hips and torso and her eyelids were darkened with makeup. A hint of rose scent in the air told of an expensive perfume.

"Detective," Lucifer breathed. "You're beautiful."

Charlie's uncle looked like he could swallow her whole.

"Why, thank you, Lucifer," Chloe said with a small grin. "I thought we could..."

Then she saw _him_ and her eyes widened.

"Charlie? Is that you?" she asked in disbelief.

To her credit Chloe's reaction to his new appearance was small compared to that of his parents earlier in the evening and when the three of them went inside, after Lucifer had hastily explained the situation, she even asked him how he was holding up. This was the first time anyone directly had addressed him on the matter since it all started and Charlie did at first not know what to say.

"I'm...okay, I guess," he muttered finally, not wanting her to feel sorry him or anxious, like his parents.

The look in Chloe's eyes told him, however, that he had not fooled her, but that she would let it slide, for the moment anyway. Instead she turned to Lucifer with her next question:

"How can I help?" she asked.

Lucifer looked absolutely tormented.

"I'm so sorry for this, detective," he began for what might have been the tenth time since their arrival. "I know this was not at all what we had planned for tonight and..."

Chloe just hushed him.

"We'll find time for those... other things..." she reassured him and touched his arm softly. "Later, ok? Now, I want to help. You said that there probably will be more demons arriving to hunt for Charlie? So if I go down to the precinct, I could ask them to look out for... what exactly? The walking dead?"

"Something like that..." said Lucifer with a heavy sigh. He dragged his fingers through his thick, black hair, still looking every bit like a nervous school boy. Then he straightened his shoulders and visibly pulled himself together before he continued: "Tell them specifically to report if any bodies "go missing" from crime scenes or traffic accidents. My dear demons have a preference to possess bodies that have gone out the violent way, so to speak. And then of course they should look out for all signs of disturbances around the city or general mayhem. Demons are rarely particularly discrete."

Chloe nodded thoughtfully at his words and a couple of minutes later she was gone, the doors of the elevator closing behind her as she began her journey down through the abandoned building.

It was only after she had left that Charlie really took a good look around the appartement and he was amazed but what he saw.

In the months since his uncle first return to earth, after his 12 year absence, Charlie had heard many stories about the infamous Lux and even though they were not in the actual club, he felt that he got a small glimpse of what the buzz was all about. The stone pillars that divided the living room and bedroom were for example covered with ancient scripts and at the far wall, the bar area was glowing with a soft orange light. In the ceiling above them hung a beautiful lamp in the shape of a trea - a model of the tree _Yggdrasil_, he remembered he father had told him, the tree of life - and beneath it, at the very centre of the apartment, was of course the piano. His mother had often spoken about how his uncle used to play for both strangers and friends back in the days.

Charlie took a step closer to the instrument with the intention to lightly touch the black and white keys with his fingers, but he was interrupted by Lucifer who brusquely asked:

"Fancy a drink, Charlie? Let's see, I have bourbon, vodka, rum, you name it. Maybe gin?"

He his uncle began lining up a dozen different bottles on the bar counter. Since the detective's disappearance he seemed to have landed in a foul mood. What sort of plan had his uncle and Trixie's mum actually had for the night, Charlie wondered. Probably something very adult and very disgusting involving kissing, he suspected. In answer to Lucifer's question however he just muttered uncertainly:

"Eh, i'm only twelve..."

Lucifer slammed the last bottle down on the counter top, hard.

"Bloody hell, are you not allowed to do that either? No strip clubs, no alcohol, no weapons. When exactly are you supposed to be fun to hang with? When you're fifty?"

Not knowing what to answer to this, Charlie shrugged. Lucifer kept on muttering.

"You bloody humans and your bloody rules. Honestly, sometimes I actually think I prefer hell afterall."

He took a large gulp straight from one of the bottles and began pacing restlessly back and forth.

Unsure of what else to do Charlie continued his exploration of the apartment. That was, until he came up on a mirror.

Horrified he took one step back when he saw his own reflection in the glass. Of course he had not forgotten the dramatic changes his face had undergone but facing it spot on was something else entirely than just knowing about it.

Immediately Lucifer was at his side, glaring into the same mirror.

"How those it make you feel when you see it?" his uncle said, his voice now softened, his dark eyes full of concern. "Ashamed? Guilty? Like you are a monster that deserves to be punished?"

Charlie looked surprised at this uncle.

"How did you know?" he whispered.

"Well, that is how I feel everytime I look in the mirror too."

And suddenly Lucifer's beautiful features changed into a red, leathered face, so very similar to Charlie's own.

"See, we could be brothers," he said with a ironic grin but the smile never reached his eyes.

For a moment they just stood there, both staring into the framed mirror. Then Lucifer shrugged and went away. He did not change back to his human face, though.

"Anyway," he said as he crossed the room. "I noticed you were hovering around the piano before, do you play?"

"I have taken some classes," Charlie admitted reluctantly, taken by the sudden change of subject.

That was an understatement. Mrs Calloway, his piano teacher, had said that he was very talented for his age and Charlie secretly loved those afternoon when he could focus only on playing music for hours and hours. However, he was also a twelve year old boy, painfully aware that playing the piano was not considered cool among his friends in school. His uncle, though, obviously thought differently.

"Can you play something for me, then?" Lucifer said and went over and seated himself on the bench in front of the black and white keys. "Come on, don't be shy. I heard the detective play once, you can't be worse than that."

Charlie sighed and forced himself away from the haunting picture in the mirror. As he sat down beside his uncle he asked:

"What should I play?"

"Play anything you like. Well, not any hymns to my father, thank you very much, those are strictly forbidden, but otherwise it is totally up to you."

Charlie thought for a second and then it was like his fingers decided before his head did. He began playing the most uncool song he could imagine: Thank you for the music.

"Oh, an ABBA classic," Lucifer said, eyes twinkling as he joined in, playing the keys in front him. "Me like."

Soon enough the cold reality would come crashing in on them once more, but as for that moment they were just an uncle and his nephew playing the piano, sittning side by side with matching devil faces.


	6. Chapter 6

In the hour before sunrise Lucifer was standing in his shirtsleeves on the penthouse balcony, gazing at the city lights below, an half emptied drink in his hand. Behind him, inside the appartement, Charlie had finally fallen asleep on the sofa, his red devil face now resting on a silk cushion.

As Lucifer considered his nephew's fate he felt a stab of pain in his stomach. A devil face was nothing he would have wished upon even the worst of his enemies and definitely not one of his own flesh and blood…

"It's not your fault, you know" Chloe said softly from behind, like she had read his mind. "None of these things that have happened tonight is your fault, you must know that."

He had heard her coming up the elevator a moment earlier of course, and now she came out and stood beside him at the railing, her arm gently touching his arm. Her mere presence made the tense muscles in his back and neck relax a bit. Yet he couldn't help himself asking:

"Isn't it though?" he sighed heavily. "Detective, I no longer believe he wears the face because he feels guilty over something or wants to punish himself. Oh no, I think it is something much more sinister than that."

"How do you mean?"

Lucifer took a deep sip of his drink then set it down and left it standing on railing.

"Do you remember when the demons took him when he was a little baby? How they wanted to crown him the Lord of Hell in my place?"

"Kind of a hard moment to forget," Chloe said with a wry smile. "You exposing us to your whole devilishness and all."

"Yes I suppose you might have found _that _memorable. Well, I think they may have marked him somehow back then and now when they are back on Earth the mark, or in this case the devil face..."

"... also has returned," said Chloe slowly, nodding as she began to understand. "Like some kind of dormant virus?"

"Yeah, like a particularly wicked STD, if you will."

She gave him a puzzled look.

"I still doesn't see how it is your fault, though."

"For heaven's sake, detective," Lucifer said gesticulating wildly. "If I hadn't left hell in the first place, all those years ago, the demons would never have felt the need to find a new boss and..."

"If you hadn't left hell in the first place," Chloe interrupted and put a hand over his mouth, "Amenadiel and Linda wouldn't have meet and Charlie would never have been born in the first place. Would that really be so much better?"

She did not lower her hand until he had calmed down.

"Oh," said Lucifer with a paus, fresh insight glittering in his eyes. "Aren't you the clever one?"

Chloe shrugged.

"One of us has to be. Besides, if you hadn't left hell, we would never have meet either, and you would never have known what I have got planned for us tonight."

She stroke him lightly over his back with one hand and Lucifer felt a whole new sensation lighting up inside of him.

"Oh!" he said with sudden new found excitement. "Is it something I would rather hate to miss?

Chole nodded, her broad grin mirroring his.

"Definitely" she whispered and then she reached up and kissed him.

As their lips meet a dozen different fires started inside Lucifer's body and a memory of another kiss popped up in his mind, one that happened many years ago on a beach just outside the city. Similar to that one, this kiss started out all sweet and innocent. However, this time the kiss soon changed to something else, something deeper, something more demanding. It made his knees all watery.

"Detective!" he exclaimed trying to catch his breath. "Charlie is in the other room."

She gave him a wicked grin.

"I can be quiet," she said. "Can you?"

"Oh, you little devil," he laughed as he swooped her off her feet and carried her inside.


	7. Chapter 7

Clothes were such a bother. All those shirt buttons and zippers and hooks, all those layers that had to be peeled off before you reached the actual skinn. The complete darkness of the bedroom did of course nothing to help but both of them were too afraid of waking up Charlie to turn on any lights.

"For heaven sakes, detective, are you wearing body armor?" Lucifer groaned as he struggled with her bra.

Chloe giggled.

"Lucifer, your hands are shaking. Let me try."

They stumbled onward toward the bed, where they finally fell down in a tangle of arms, legs and kisses.

Much later, when the morning sun came shining through the windows and they lay skin to skin underneath the blankets, Chloe's head curled up on his chest, her eyes closed, snoring softly, Lucifer sighed heavily.

"Despite everything, I'm a lucky devil," he thought looking down on the detectives peaceful face.

Carefully he bent down and kissed her forehead. The snoring stopped and was replaced by a broad smile on her lips.

"Good morning, Lucifer," she mumbled, still half asleep, and nestled herself even closer to him.

Then slowly, slowly she opened one eye and said with surprise:

"What's my dress doing up there?"

Lucifer followed her gaze and couldn't stop himself from laughing when he saw the green, silk dress hanging down from one of the chandeliers just above the bed.

"Well detective, I'm not certain I got any good explanation for you. I mean, we did get into a lot of physical exercises but I'm sure none of them involved climbing the ceiling. Maybe you were sleepwalking?"

"Haha, real funny," Chloe said, now fully awake, and boxed his arm gently. "Could you get it down, please, it was pretty expensive."

"Detective," Lucifer said, pretending to be offended. "I believe you're just trying to see me naked."

Chloe rolled her eyes.

"I have way better ways to achieve that," she said. "Trust me."

"Do you now?" said Lucifer with a wicked grin after which his and Chloe's lips meet again in an intense kiss.

Inside of him the fires started once more and he was just about to suggest a return to their nightly exercise scheme when a loud, penetrating noise filled the air.

"Bloody hell," Lucifer groaned and jumped out of bed. "You can always count on a demon to destroy the mood."

"_What_ is that?" Chloe asked perplexed and Lucifer explained about the celestial security system he had installed while he hurried to turn the damn thing off. He had to adjust the volume on that bloody device in the future, it had nearly turned them all deaf.

"They're coming for him," he continued as he pulled on a pair of trousers. The alarm was maybe off but its' ghost was still ringing inside his head and because of it he spoke louder than he had intended to. "We must protect Charlie. The demons are coming to Lux."

"The demons know I'm here? How?"

Both Lucifer and Chloe looked up in surprise at Charlie who all of the sudden had appeared in the door opening. The boy looked puzzled back at them. However, if he wondered why on earth his uncle was standing there bare chested and the detective was barely covered in one of Lucifer's old shirts, he did not say anything, bless the lad.

"Oh, I can think of a number of ways. None of them good," Lucifer answered his nephew's question as he rushed out of the bedroom towards the living room, closely followed by the boy and the detective.

Lucifer had just reached the elevator when the red numbers above the doors started to change, counting upwards.

"Bloody hell, they're fast," he thought. Out aloud he said: "Charlie, take the balcony. Use your wings and go somewhere... somewhere not here. Ok? Charlie, do you hear me?"

"But dad says I can't fly during the day unless there are clouds to hide in..." Charlie protested.

Lucifer sighed. Outside the windows the sky was a clear blue hue. They did not have time for this, he thought, the elevator was going to reach their floor very soon and he needed them out of the way. Both of them.

"Well, my dear brother says a lot of stupid things. Don't take it all to seriously, that's my advice. Detective, make sure Charlie gets on his way while I try to stall them."

By then the elevator was only three floors down. Chloe grabbed Charlie by the arm.

Two floors. The detective and the boy started sprinting towards the balcony.

One floor. They reached the glass doors at same time as the elevator arrived to the appartement.

Time's up.

Lucifer braced himself, considering turning into his full devilish self, when the metal doors slid open and all adrenaline left him like rain water running of the roof.

"What the hell, Maze" he groaned as his favourite demon and former partner-in-crime stepped out of the elevator. "Why are you here?"

"Hello to you too, Lucifer," said Maze with sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You sure know how to make a girl feel welcome, don't you?"

She stepped around him on her five inch heels and waved a hand at Chloe.

"What's up, Decker." Then she noticed Charlie and her face lit up. "Wow, Charlie. I like this new look of yours. If we were back in hell I might have set you up with one of sisters."

Even with a fresh devil face, the boy managed to blush.

"What are you doing here, Maze?" Lucifer repeated, still a bit annoyed that his clever security system only had managed to catch the one demon who was not a threat to Charlie. Well, usually not a threat.

"Yeah, how did you know we were here?" Chloe asked curiously.

"Well, duh," said the demon and rolled her eyes. "Linda told me. I visited her and Amenadiel at the hospital and decided to check this place out before they arrived. So that there wouldn't be any... surprises."

"They coming here?" Chloe asked, a hint of panic to her voice.

Maze grinned, eyeing both her and Lucifer up and down.

"Oh yeah, and very soon I believe. So you might want to get dressed or something. I don't mind having a no-clothes day every once and awhile but I think Linda and Amenadiel are a bit more conservative. Specially around the boy."

She didn't need to say anymore, as both Lucifer and Chloe rushed to the bedroom to get fully dressed.


	8. Chapter 8

As Linda stepped out of the elevator a flood of memories came down upon her.

Lux, she thought, had for many people back in its heydays been the number one place of lust and sin, but not to her. For Linda it had instead been a place of adventure, a place where you could be whoever you wanted to be. Were you could be free.

She realised she had missed it greatly.

"Oh my god," Amenadiel muttered beside her. "He hasn't changed a thing. In twelve years time you could at least expect..."

"Hush," Linda snorted as they stepped inside the appartement. "Be nice, now."

The others were waiting for them by the sofas, Lucifer and Chloe both looking strangely flushed for some reason, like they been running around all morning. Just as odd was the smug smile on Mazikeen's face but then the demon could find amusement in the most bizarre situations. Linda chose to ignore them and focus on her son, though her heart nearly stopped as she looked at his face. The same red devil face as the evening before.

"Oh, Charlie," she said and rushed to give him a big hug. "Has there been no improvement during the night? None at all?"

She tried to keep the panic out of her voice but failed miserably.

"Mum, please," her son muttered against her shoulder. "Let me go."

Reluctantly she did as he asked.

"I'm afraid there has been no change, no," said Lucifer slowly. "In fact I have theory of what actually is going on..." he shot a worried look at both her and Amenadiel, like he was unsure of how to proceed, which in itself was worrying since it was very unlike him.

"Let's hear it then, Luci!" his brother demanded.

Later she wished he hadn't.

Lucifer spoke, and Linda's eyes grew larger and larger for every word that came over his lips.

"Those this mean that he... that he is a devil now?" Linda had to swallow hard, her throat suddenly more airid than the Mojave desert, a lump of bottled up fear appearing inside her body. At her right side Amenadiel groaned, like he'd been hit straight in the abdomen.

Lucifer shook his head.

"Maybe... maybe not." He tried on a foolish grin but it died a moment later." I mean, who really knows anything about this stuff? One day you wake up an angel and the next... well, the next morning you realise you've been literally kicked down from your cloud and you've gotten a face lift from hell while you were sleeping. All according to _HIS _bloody plan."

Linda found Lucifer's wavering answer enormously irritating - and of course he had to drag his own daddy issues in to the mix! She stomped her foot in pure frustration.

"Is my son an angel or a devil?" she demanded to know, her voice high pitched and dangerously close to breaking.

Lucifer spread out his arms, a hunted look to his dark eyes.

"He is your son. It should not bloody matter to you what he is!" he said, his voice just as shrill as hers.

"Well of course it matters , Lucifer." Linda realised to her surprise that she was shouting and that she did not care." How can it not?"

"So him being a devil, being like me, is the worst thing that can possibly happen to your son? Is that it?"

The hurt was plain and raw on Lucifer's face.

Linda was taken back a little by his strong reaction.

"Oh Luci, I did not mean it like that..." she began but it was to late

Lucifer had already turned on his heels and stormed out of the room. The loud bangs that followed from inside the apartment's bedroom told the rest them that he was purposely trashing the place piece by piece.

"Was that really necessary?" Chloe asked angrily and gave her a dark look.

"He is my SON," Linda repeated in desperation.

"Yes and Lucifer is one of your closest friends. He trusts you and you know how sensitive this subject is to him."

Her words stung, that she had to admit, but before she had a chance to explain herself any further Chloe's phone rang.

"I need to take this, it's the precinct," the detective mumbled and stepped away from the group before she answered. Meanwhile Linda turned to the others.

"Maze? Amenadiel?" she pleaded.

But the father of her son was lost in worried thoughts and her demon friend only shrugged and said:

"I would have thought you of all people would have handle this a little bit better, Linda, being a therapist and all."

The air in the apartment turned ice cold and the dark lump in Linda's stomach grew to the size of a football. Charlie looked nervously at her and the other adults but did not say anything.

Soon enough Lucifer returned to the living room, with bloodshot eyes and hair pointing in all directions. He literally looked as if he had been to hell and back in a matter of minutes. Linda was about to apologize when Chloe also came back, having just coming off the phone.

"I just talked with Dan, he is at precinct right now," she said. "There seems to have been several disturbance reports and strange sightings in city during the last couple of hours."

"What kind of sightings?" Amenadiel asked.

"Oh, you know, of groups of people who look like they should be dead, walking around in the sunlight instead. That sort of thing."

"Demons," Maze breathed and you couldn't mistake the look of joy in her eyes. "Well, spill the beans, Decker. Where are they? I got my knives sharpened yesterday, I'm ready to go hunting."

"That's just it," Chloe said, a bit shaken. "The first reports was all from the neighbourhood around the hospital but during the last hour or so they appear to have moved closer and closer to the city centre."

"They heading for Lux," Lucifer said. It was a statement of facts, not a question.

"Yes, it seems that way," the detective agreed.

"Oh my good," Linda whispered when the realisation dawned on her. "They followed me and Amenadiel here from the hospital. They could already be in the building."

Her words started an intense discussion of what their next move should be. Would it be better to try to face the demons out in open, on the streets, or to wait and stage an ambush right here in the penthouse. The debate was still ongoing, their opinions differentiating in a hundred different ways, when Maze suddenly interrupted:

"Hey guys! "Where is Charlie?"

"Well, he is just..."

Linda looked around the room and realised her son was nowhere to been seen.

"Maybe he is in the bedroom or on the balcony..." Amenadiel suggested.

"Nope, I've already checked," said the demon.

The five grown-ups starred in horror at each other.

"CHARLIE!" Linda screamed, it was the sound of her worst nightmares.


	9. Chapter 9

Charlie hated it when the grown-ups argued, especially when the subject of their argument was him. Therefore, when Lucifer returned from the bedroom and Charlie saw how much pain the whole situation caused both his uncle and his mother, he made a decision. Quietly, and when no one was watching, he sneaked out onto the balcony, spread his wings and took off.

Flying in full daylight under a clear blue sky was intoxicating and as he flew in circles above the rooftops he felt the burden of the last 24 hours lift from his young shoulders. The city had never looked more beautiful than it did right then and there, glittering in the morning light, the rising sun mirrored in a hundred different windows. He could have stayed up there the whole day, had it not been for the helicopter.

The machine, which looked liked a big, black insect was hovering nearby over a busy intersection, no doubt overlooking the current traffic situation. Charlie hesitated just for a second before he quickly started to descend. Flying during the day was not worth the risk of being discovered, though he felt the heaviness from before return in full as he approached the ground.

He landed in a small park near Lux, the draft from his wings causing a flock of pigeons to scatter in confusion. The birds later resettled in a nearby tree but kept an watching eye on him, the intruder.

Charlie looked around carefully but there were no other humans in the park, no one that could have seen him land. Neatly he folded his wings underneath his t-shirt after which he started walking aimlessly among the shrubs and bushes that lined the pathway of the park. He realised that sooner or later he would have to encounter someone and even though his wings no longer were visible there was still the matter of his face. There was no way he could possible hide _that._

"I can't stay here forever," he thought. But then what should he do?

Suddenly taking take off from the penthouse did not seem as such a great idea after all.

The solution to his problem came in the form of a sign, a neon sign whose lights had gone out a decade earlier and located on a house wall at the outskirts of the park. _Entrance _the sign read with an arrow pointing toward a set of huge double doors, which were covered in several layers of outdated posters. A large placard announced in bold letters that this was a private building and all forms of trespassing would be prosecuted.

Charlie's eyes grew wide with excitement. He had found what used to be the main entrance to Lux. He started off toward the building with new found purpose in his steps. The time had come for him to take a real good look on what remained of his uncle's infamous nightclub.

It was easier than he had thought to get in. Despite the warning to possible trespassers the huge doors were not locked and they just needed a little push to open up. Maybe his parents and Maze had taken the same way when they arrived earlier, he thought. The complete darkness inside the place, however, took him by surprise.

When the front doors closed behind him, Charlie was left standing in the pitch-dark nightclub until his eyes slowly had adjusted themselves to the lack of light, and even then he could only move forward with great difficulty since the floor was littered with dozens of overturned chairs and tables. Amenadiel, his father, could see very well in the dark and so could probably his uncle Lucifer too. Charlie on the other hand had inherited his mother's poor human vision. Despite this challenge, though, he somehow managed to descend a short flight of stairs and soon found himself in the middle of what once had been the dance floor. There, under a broken disco ball, he turned around slowly, trying to get the feel of the place.

In the distance he discerned the outlines of the bar and to his left a large shadow was lurking. The shadow proved to be nothing other than the piano wing were his uncle once used to play in order to entertain his guests or to heal his own heart ache. Or sometimes maybe both.

Charlie was just about to take a step towards the instrument when a sudden noise from the direction of the entrance made him hastily take cover behind a pile of furniture.

His instincts were proven right a second later as a group of loud creatures came tumbling down the same flight of stairs that he himself had descended just minutes earlier. The creatures swore and yelled and trashed the already broken interior of the night club even more. Charlie identified them by their rotten smell which was like the smell of a roadkill left on the highway in the sun for several days. They were demons.

The sweat broke out on his forehead when he realised that they finally had found him. And he was all alone.


	10. Chapter 10

They took the stairs down. When Amenadiel asked if that really was necessary - why could they not just take the elevator as usual - Lucifer had countered with:

"If the demons are already in building, would you like to be trapped in a metal box which is announcing your arrival on every floor? Well, go ahead, brother, do as you like. Or even better, use you bloody wings in full daylight."

Amenadiel had chosen to not respond to that and a moment later the five of them had continued through the door to the hidden stairwell.

Soft green emergency lighting lit their path down the backbone of the building. Maze and Amenadiel took the lead, closely followed by Chloe while Lucifer and Linda made up the rear end of their small group.

Linda glanced sideways at her old devilish friend. Even though she was sick with worry for her son she still wanted to apologize for what she had said before. She just had a hard time finding the right words. Luckily Lucifer helped her out.

"Don't sweat about it, Doctor," he said with a wry smile. "I clearly overreacted earlier."

"Oh no, Luci, I was way out of line," Linda interjected and shook her blond curls.

Lucifer snorted.

"Well, let's conclude that we were both wrong, shall we? Lots of emotions flying around and all that." This time his smile was genuine and Linda relaxed a bit.

As they continued downwards, however, bits of earlier information finally fell into place inside her head; Chloe's fancy dress, the flushed look on both her and Lucifer's faces, the new tenderness in their eyes as they looked sideways at each other when they thought none was watching...

"Has Chloe been seduced by the devil?" she whispered curiously and the devil actually blushed.

"Oh, it was she who did most of the seducing actually," he laughed quietly to himself.

Linda smiled back at him.

"I am so glad for you two," she said. "I really, really am."

Lucifer's grin broadened and just like that the last of the tension between them was gone. It was like it never had existed in the first place.

After a hell of a climb down rusty metal steps they finally reached the ground floor. Maze, who reached the bottom of the stairwell first, did not bother about open the door leading into the former nightclub like a normal human would, instead she kicked it with her high heel stilettos and a dark hole opened up in the wall as the door itself crashed inwards.

"You're welcome," she barked at them before she and Amenadiel, a demon and an angel side by side, stepped into the unknown.

Chloe and Lucifer quickly followed suit, as did Linda. She stepped over the threshold...

... and into complete darkness.

"Uh, Lucifer, we kind of need some light here," she mumbled.

"Yeah right, almost forgot about that," he agreed.

At her side she could her him fumble with a hatch of some sort, most likely the one leading to the switchboard, and a second later bright light scorched her eyes. Linda blinked, her eyes adapting slowly to the sudden change, and when she saw clearly again she took a deep, fearful breath. Down on the former dance floor, staring up at them, were more than two dozens of demons.

"Well, I see that someone did not get the memo about the club's dress code," Lucifer muttered. "Blood, bandages. This place has really gone downhill while I've been away."

Linda saw what he meant. Just like the demons that had came to her house last night this crowd displayed all the signs of recent body trauma with a blood spatter on a shirt here, a head covered in bandages there and intestines visible through open wounds to the gut. The last one made her own stomach turn in disgust.

Beside her Lucifer took a step forward and with his voice raised he demanded

"As your ruler I order you to go home. NOW."

His voice echoed in the large room and for a moment the demons were completely silent. Then they all started laughing. It was strange sound, like the rattling of old bones.

"You're not our boss any longer," one of the demons shouted. "We don't take orders from you," another one added and the rest of the crowd muttered in agreement as they started to move forward towards Linda and her friends, the first ones already at the foot of the short flight of stairs leading up from the dance floor.

"Luci, maybe now is the time to ... you know... go full demon on them," Amenadiel whispered.

"I can't..." Lucifer answered.

Amenadiel frowned.

"What do you mean, you can't? Luci, all of us have already seen your demon body, now it's not the time to be shy."

"I can't," Lucifer repeated with panic glowing in his dark eyes. "Don't you think I've been trying since we when came down here? I'm not even able to produce my demon face anymore. It's like it's all gone!"

"Oh boy," Linda whispered as her knees turned to jelly with fear. This was NOT good.

"To hell with it," Maze grunted. "Let's kick some ass anyway."

She turned her attention to the first couple of demons coming up the stairs, already in a warrior stance. Linda and the others were just about to follow her lead when something strange happened in the other end of the room, behind the approaching tide of hell's finest creatures.

A small demon, no larger than a child, had risen up from behind some overturned tables and climbed up the small dais beside the piano. The child demon's face and chest were glowing red and a long tail whipped nervously from its back.

The child demon spoke with a surprising loud voice:

"I'm your king. Bend your knees to me!"

Linda starred in horror as she recognized the voice. The demon child was Charlie, her son.


	11. Chapter 11

One by one the demons turned and kneeled down on the floor before Charlie. None of them said a word. The former night club was waiting in dead silence.

As his mother Linda knew her son very well and she could see how nervous he was. He had never been a child who liked to be in the centre of attention, bless him, but now he actually crawled up on the old piano so the demons would be able to see him better, all the while that new horrible tail of his wiggled behind him.

"Luci, we must do something!" Amenadiel said desperately. "They're gonna eat him alive."

"Hold on, brother," said Lucifer, his dark eyes completely focused on his nephew on the other side of the room. "I don't think they will.

He took a deep breath and nodded towards Charlie.

"Actually I think the lad will handle this just fine."

And in that moment Linda's son spoke again, yet it was not with his usual boyish voice but with a deep tone that echoed of ancient powers.

"Will you accept me as your lord and master? Will you accept me as your king?" this new Charlie bellowed and a shiver went through the horde of demons. Linda herself clutched the railing above the stairs, her knuckles turning white as she struggled to hold on to reality. "Will you?!"

"Yes, master. You are our new king," the demons said in unison.

"Then you will obey my orders. Return to hell immediately and await my arrival."

A pause. Then a demon in the front row asked curiously:

"And when will that be, master? You see the last lord of hell, Lucifer, promised us the same thing, but kept abandoning us time and time again just so he could consort with mere humans. How will we know you wouldn't do the same?"

The other demons muttered in agreement. They would not return to hell without an answer.

"Oh, bloody hell," Lucifer whispered beside Linda, followed by Amenadiel saying:

"It's a trap. We must act now before they attack him..."

But once again Charlie surprised them all.

"I will return to you the day after my 18th birthday," he declared calmly. "Not a day sooner or later. I have a very important mission here on Earth which I must finish first. You wouldn't want to interfere with my plans, would you?"

He looked at them with flaming red eyes, daring anyone of them to speak up. None of them did.

"Good," demon Charlie said. "Now I have last order before I let you go. You see the people over there?" He pointed straight towards Linda and the others. "Those people are my family. If you ever hurt any of them, just even a scratch, I will destroy you. I will wipe you out of existence. Do you hear me?"

The demons hastily bowed their heads in submission. Charlie nodded in approvement then added.

"Now, go home!"

"Hail, Charlie. Hail, the new lord of hell," the demons shouted before they all dropped handlessly to the floor, leaving their dead bodies behind as they returned to hell.

And as the demons disappeared, Charlie himself returned to normal again; gone was his demon body with its wiggling tail and gone was finally also his red devil face. Now he was just an ordinary boy again.

"Charlie!" both Linda and Amenadiel screamed and together they jumped over the motionless bodies on the dance floor in order to reach their son. When they did, they overwhelmed him with hugs and kisses and they did not let go of him for a long, long time.

Much later, when they all were back up in the penthouse, the adults each with a steady drink in their hands, Maze asked Charlie:

"So what's the deal with this mission of yours? Why do you have to stay on Earth until your 18?"

Charlie shrugged.

"I have to finish school, don't I?" he said.

Maze looked at him incredulously.

"Wait, that's the big plan that's gonna keep your hellish underlings inline for the next six years? Going to school?"

"Yeah."

"Oh my god, you're so boring."

Maze finished her drink in one gulp and went to over to the bar to get another one.

In the sofa Lucifer finally gave up his fruitless attempts to bring about his old devil face. He had been trying non-stop ever since they returned up with elevator, without achieving any result.

"So, I guess that means I'm officially retired then. I'm no longer the devil, the lord of hell," he said and stared dumbfounded up at Charlie and his parents. "What does that mean? Who am I now?"

As a therapist Linda had seen that look many times before on patients who had the very foundations upon which they had built their life suddenly taken away from them. It did not matter if it was a change that they had longed for, maybe even had dreamed of for years, when the change finally came it was always a huge shock.

"We'll figure it out," Chole who was sitting next to Lucifer assured him. She stroked him gently over the shoulders. "We'll figure it out."

Beside Linda Charlie moved restlessly from one foot to another. _His _devil face had not returned either, though she did not think he had tried to bring it back.

"Mum?" her son now asked worriedly and looked at her with eyes full of dread. "Will you still love me, now that I'm the devil?"

Linda felt the tears gather in her own eyes as she answered:

"Of course I will, Charlie. Whether your an angel or a devil, or whether heaven or hell is your home, I will always, always love you."

And as she said those words she knew them to be true. It really was like Lucifer had said earlier, it did not matter at all because Charlie was her son and he always would be. No matter what.

\- The End -


End file.
